Invasion of the Pre-teens
by JoinTheDarkSide
Summary: It was a relaxing afternoon at Mount Justice when a strange sound caught The Team's attention.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I'm overseas right now, so I don't have access to internet, however, I will still do my best to reply to any messages I get, so for now, enjoy. I admit that this is not my best work, but I wrote it for fun so, yeah. Ignore my total disregard of their cannon ages.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the cartoon Young Justice nor any of the characters neither do I own Batman and any of it's related characters.**

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The Team had just finished a particularly trying training session together and were now hanging around the main living area of the cave. They were lazing about on the couches with the television on not paying any particular attention to what was on. Robin and Wally were joking around, M'gann and Conner were in their own world together, Kaldur was going over battle plans and Artemis was going over her equipment.

Conner was the first to notice it thanks to his super-hearing. It was what drew him out of his conversation with M'gann.

"Conner? What's wrong?" M'gann asked softly.

"Do you hear that?" He said loud enough for everyone to hear.

The rest of the Team settled down trying to hear what Conner had been hearing, but after a minute or two the rest of them shook their heads. Conner grumbled to himself about weird wind patterns or creaky pipes before forcing his concentration back to his girlfriend. He pushed the strange noise out of his mind, although if he had thought about it, the noises would have made a familiar tune.

When he did manage to wrench his thoughts away, he found that M'gann had gotten up and was headed towards the kitchen. It wasn't long till she came back, her eyes wide and perhaps her skin was paler than it was before. Conner vaulted over the couch asking her what was wrong.

"Well, Conner, I'm sure it's nothing, but just a moment a go, I heard some weird noises coming out of the vent, and I remembered you asking just now and, well..." She trailed off her brow scrunched up.

The Team exchanged glances before either shifting into battle stances or taking out weapons. Then, as if from far away, a noise could be heard distorted from the metal casing of the vent.

"Do do do dooo doo do do do dooo do nyanya nyaw~"

It sounded strange and echoed, bouncing around the cave like the sound of a despairing apparition; strangely enough it seemed as though the apparition was a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise. It was then that the Zeta beam lit up announcing the arrival of a very harried looking Batgirl.

"Robin! Thank God you're here." She said holding a struggling baby in her arms. "I found him on my doorstep right before I was about to go on patrol and he was crying and the rest of the kids are missing!" She exclaimed in one breath.

A very quite 'uh-oh' could be heard coming from the vents, while two other voices kept humming.

"Oh no, no no no no no," Robin moaned staring at the ceiling, "this cannot be happening to me. Please say this isn't happening."

"Um, Robin, what's going on?" Wally asked an eyebrow raised.

Overhead, they could hear banging as whoever it was in the vents tried to move backwards. The humming had stopped soon after they heard the 'uh-oh'.

Robin sighed, his hands going to his utility belt and taking what looked like a well-chewed block out of one of his pockets. He handed it over to Batgirl.

"Give that to him. He's teething at the moment and he should calm down with it in his mouth."

She grabbed it from him gratefully before shoving it in the baby's mouth. The kid soon calmed down and was happily chewing away at the block. Robin marched over to one of the grates leading to the vents, took a deep breath and bellowed from his lungs.

"JAASSOON!"

All sounds and movements from the vents stilled.

"Oh don't even try to pretend you're not up there, I can hear every move you make. You should really work on that by the way. Now get down from there!" Robin said irritation evident in this voice.

They could hear a huff coming from above and then a voice drawled from within.

"Fine, but you gotta catch them." The voice said petulantly before the grating fell down onto the floor, but not before Robin stiffly moved out of the way of course.

Then, from somewhere in the darkness, a young girl around the age of six dressed all in black was dangled out from the vent before the arms holding her up released her. The Team lurched forward, but Robin was already there catching her. He gave her a brief hug, which prompted a giggle out of her, but then gently placed her off to the side where she obediently stayed.

The arms reached out again, this time holding a softly giggling boy of four wearing a red t-shirt and black pants. The hands released him and he fell screaming and laughing all the way. He landed in Robin's arms still chuckling to himself. At this, Robin's stiff posture relaxed a little and he gave the boy a hard peck on the cheek causing the boy to squeal.

After that, the Team held their breaths. They were waiting to see who the mastermind behind this invasion of pre-schoolers. They were confused, they had never seen these kids before, but it seemed as though Robin knew them. Well, Robin, Batgirl and Wally seeing as the two let out groans as soon as they heard the name Robin shouted into the vents. However, the person wasn't coming down.

It took a heavy huff and a stern 'Jason!' from Robin before they heard a groan from above and then a body came down feet first. A boy of around ten leapt down into a crouch bouncing back upright. He had a rebellious look on his face as he glared at Robin.

Robin moved forward, shoving the boy in his arms to the nearest teammate, which unfortunately was Superboy. Conner looked down the kid in surprise. The child had caught sight of the logo on his chest and was staring at it in awe moving his gaze back and forth from his face to his chest. A blush crept up his face as he buried it into Conner's shoulder. The girl had moved away from her place and was now next to Batgirl gripping her leg.

The two boys were now standing face to face and the tension between them could be cut by a knife. Batgirl was distracted from the drama making sure that the baby in her arms didn't start a fuss again, but most of the Team were still confused.

"What were you thinking bringing them here. You know you're not allowed to come here at all!" Robin shouted at the boy, the Team jumped a little the raised voice of their youngest member was unexpected.

"Well it's not fair! You always get to have fun while the rest of us are left at the house! Plus, I have to babysit them!" The other boy whined "Besides, it's not as if I would have been caught." He mumbled to himself.

"Jay, the three of you were humming the Mission Impossible theme. What part of that say not caught?" Robin asked, fingers squeezing the bridge of his nose.

Jason mumbled to himself, which served only to irritate Robin further as he took a deep breath to continue arguing when Wally zipped by.

"Ok, Robin, no need to get mad. They're just kids –"

"Hey! I'm not a kid!" Jason exclaimed interrupting Wally mid sentence, his glare now trained on the speedster.

"Hey, aren't you –" Artemis said butting in before Kid Flash could say something stupid.

"What!"

"I was just trying to ask a question yeesh, no need to be so hostile."

"Back off Blondie!"

"Why you little!" She said moving forward anger pouring off her in waves as M'gann quickly grabbed her preventing her from hurting a kid.

"Now now Artemis, I'm sure he didn't mean that."

"I meant every word." Jason sneered.

Unnoticed by everyone, Kaldur was observing the scene in front of him. He had sheathed his weapons when he deemed the intruders to be non-hostile which he gathered when he saw who had come out of the vents.

It was interesting to see how their youngest member handled being the oldest. He was obviously used to it, and he could see the marks of a good leader in Robin, the only problem he had was that the other children were either were too young to really understand and follow his leadership and the other was too stubborn and brash. He turned back to the events before him only to see Robin cuff the back of Jason's head only to receive a glare in response.

"Hey Boy Wonder, I have to get back to patrol, this was great and all, but next time try to keep me out of this." Batgirl said shoving the little bundle of joy into his arms.

"Oh, alright. Thanks Batgirl, I'll see you later then!"

"See ya!" She waved back at him.

"Uh Robin."

"Yes Conner"

"What exactly am I supposed to do with him?" He asked gesturing to the boy in his arms who was now looking up at him in something akin to hero worship.

"Aww, look at that, they look cute don't they?" Robin said to the girl standing by his side.

She looked up at him solemnly before shifting her gaze to the Kryptonian holding her brother. After subjecting them to her intense gaze, she looked back up to her oldest brother and decisively nodded prompting a laugh from him.

"Well, you see," Robin started once again his attention on Conner, "he might have a slight crush on Superman," at this Superboy tensed, "which, by the way B is so not happy about, but I told him about you some time ago and I think he might have developed a crush on you now." He managed to say before a block held in chubby hands was smashed into his face.

The baby in his arms babbled angrily waving around the block in a manner that made everyone else nervous as Robin tried to placate him.

"Ok, ok, I'm paying attention to you now." He said before sighing deeply.

To his side, the child held in Conner's arms started giggling at the miniscule blush that was creeping up Superboy's face. The girl was tugging on Robin's pants and Jason, well, Jason was giving him the cold shoulder.

"Alright, kids time to go home!" He said firmly. "Jason!" he said trying to get the attention of his younger brother "Jason Jasooon, Jay Jay Jay Jay Jaybird!"

The rest of the team looked on amused as their youngest member slowly started getting to the younger boy. First, the tensed jaw, then the clenching and the grinding, until finally, his eye started twitiching and he burst.

"What! What do you want!"

"Grab the other one for me, we're going home." Robin said normally.

Jason grumbles before snatching the boy from Conner's arms. The boy yelps and pouts up at the older boy.

"You hear that kid? He called you 'the other one'. What a douche, I'm your favourite person now right." Jason said walking over to the panel and automatically typing in the coordinates to Gotham.

Robin let out a strangled sound of protest but the two of them had already disappeared into the Zeta tube the younger of the two nodding in agreement.

"Sorry about that guys."

"What exactly happened?" M'gann asked.

"Well, those were just some kids I babysit, I gotta go now, need to get these two home before Batman finds out and kills me. Bye!" He explained sunnily leaping into the Zeta tube before they could ask for any more explanations.

Wally ran out of the kitchen his arm loaded with food.

"Aww they left already? Ah well, I gotta go home too anyway, Aunt Iris is expecting me."

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold it! Robin babysits?" Artemis interrupted his escape.

"Uh yeah, he's gotta earn his allowance one way or another right?" Wally said as he sped up typing his coordinated into the Zeta tube and running through.

"Ugh! That – that- aarg! I had more questions!" She exclaimed.

The rest of the Team dispersed; going home to their beds to ponder on the mystery of the Boy Wonder, unknown to them, the Batman was waiting for his wayward children back in the Batcave.

"Well kids, where have you been?" Bruce asked, his hood pulled off.

"It was all Jason's fault! They followed me to the cave!" Dick jumped in before anyone else could give their version of the events.

Jason gasped.

"You traitor!"

Bruce got up from his chair taking Damian from Dick.

"Come on, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, I'm just glad you're all alright. Doesn't mean you won't be grounded though."

"What? But I didn't do anything!" Dick whined.

"You left them at home alone without a babysitter."

"I don't need a babysitter!" Jason argued.

And so they quarrelled up the stairs into the manor where the younger children were put to bed and the older two finished off their homework grumbling the whole way.


	2. Chapter 2

In his fourth year as a member of Young Justice, Dick Grayson barged into the living room of Wayne Manor, currently occupied by three of his younger siblings. Cassandra, Tim and Jason were huddled in front of the window, television and gaming station respectively. Cass was reading her book of the week, Tim was watching one of his educational cartoons and Jason was mowing down his enemies with extreme prejudice.

"Good morning my minions!" Dick exclaimed, jolting the three from their activities, as he barged through the door.

"Young Master Dick, it would be preferable for you _not_ to attempt to wrench the door from its hinges." Alfred said popping up from nowhere and startling Dick before taking his leave.

"Yeah Short Pants, the rest of us are trying are trying to enjoy this very pleasant day without your annoying presence." Jason droned as he mowed down a horde of zombies.

"Hey! That was the initial design only! I'd like to see you come up with something better."

"I did." Jason shot back an intent expression on his face as his character evaded zombie backup.

"Pssh, yeah, like a brown leather jacket and jeans are soo much better."

"I thought they looked pretty cool." Tim piped up.

"Hah! Take that zombie mayor!" Jason crowed.

Cass nodded along, and Dick, ignoring the fact that Jason was playing a zombie game and therefore had his back turned towards him, arranged his face to project hurt and offence.

"Wow, wow guys, after all these years, after all that we've been through together," Dick wailed causing Jason to drop his controller, "oh the betrayal!"

Jason was frozen as his character was overwhelmed with zombies, his face a mask of horror. He slowly turned to where Dick was doing his overdramatic act to the amusement of his two younger siblings.

"You," he hissed, "this, this is all your fault."

The next thing Dick knew, his younger brother had launched himself over the back of the couch and rammed into him. As air gushed out of his lungs, he heard Tim and Cass laughing and had enough time to think 'traitors' before he hit the ground groaning.

"You need to cut out on those donuts Jaybird." Dick wheezed out as he pushed Jason away from him.

"You made me lose my game. Do you know how long it took to get that far! All day! I've been working on it all day! My hard work." Jason whined as he curled into a ball.

"Okay, right, well I've got a team meeting to go to today so I'll leave you kids to it." Dick clambered onto his feet leaving his brother curled up on the floor. He looked up only to see Cassandra and Tim looking at him hopefully.

"Can we go with you?" Cass piped up from her position next to Tim. Sometime between being tackled and getting up, she had moved from her perch on the window seat.

Dick laughed nervously, not looking forward to being the reason for the disappointment in their eyes.

"No, I'm sorry guys, team members only."

Dick saw them exchange glances before Tim started rubbing his eyes roughly before meeting Dick's gaze again, this time with watery eyes, Cass rubbed her nose until she sneezed and looked up with a sniffily nose.

"But Dick, we don't get to hang out with you as much anymore." They chimed sadly.

"I cannot _believe_ –" Dick muttered to himself. He shook his head at the audacity of his younger siblings, using their cuteness to try and guilt him into bringing them along, as though he wasn't master and creator of those techniques. At least he was much more subtle in his approach.

Dick ruffled their hair and walked out of the room to change leaving Tim and Cass pouting. As soon as the doors closed behind him, Jason rose dramatically from his spot on the floor.

"No," he said darkly, "this won't do. Dickie bird is off having fun while we stay here and rot away?" His voice kept getting louder with each word. "He made me lose my game, he must pay!"

"Umm Jason, what exactly does this have to do with _us_?" Tim piped up gesturing to both him and Cass.

"We _want_ to, but we also want to see what excuse you can give us." Cass chimed in.

"Yeah, the better the excuse, the better our help." Tim said as the two of them sported matching grins.

"The time between your adoptions were too close." Jason muttered to himself before continuing in a louder voice. "Oh it's not just the two of us. You're forgetting a third person in this family and family means no one gets left behind."

In the distance, the sound of a door opening and closing was joined by the excited babbling of a young voice and the deep rumbling of their father.

"Damian's home." Jason said ominously and started laughing maniacally.

Cass and Tim were left looking at him strangely before exchanging glances and shrugged.

"Ok, we'll help." They said together.

Jason whipped his head in their direction and incredulously said, "For real? Like seriously, you'll help?"

"Well yeah."

"We are curious."

Jason would never say it to their face out loud, but the two were sometimes scarily in sync.

A few minutes later …

As soon as he finished feeding Damian his afternoon snack, Jason waltzed into the dining room with a look on his face that spelt trouble with a capital T. Being the amazing father that he was, Bruce knew without a doubt that he didn't want any part in the mischief. He also knew that whatever he said or did, this particular mischief would probably happen anyway, but he thought it was best to try.

"Whatever it is you want Jason, the answer is no." He said sternly attempting to project the imaging of an unmoving mountain.

"But Dad, Daddy, Daddio," Jason whined as Bruce fought to still his face into an inscrutable mask, "you don't even know what I want yet. You can't say no to something I haven't even asked."

Bruce heaved a sigh before giving in to Jason's wheedling. "Alright Jason, just tell me what you want and keep the mess out of the Manor and the newspapers this time please."

"No problem Dad!" Jason winked. "All I really want is to borrow Damian for the rest of the day. I promise I won't lose him again and hey, just think, a whole evening to yourself until dinner time when we descend upon you like a nest of harpies."

"Jason, don't equate your siblings to harpies." Bruce stated offhand and after a short pause of thinking and shuddering at the imagery of his children as winged beasts, took one look at Jason's pleading face before giving in.

"Yes! Thanks so much Dad, you will not regret this."

"Why do I feel like this was a bad idea?" He asked, only to see that Jason had already left, Damian in tow.

Jason had carefully picked out costumes for each of them, Damian was in a Bat onesie and he seemed pleased with the choice if nothing else, Tim and Cassandra had matching mottled grey and dark blue shirts, almost like camouflage but colourful. Jason, of course, had on his trial costume for when he could finally go out as his own vigilante. It was a brown leather jacket on top of a grey jacket with a red hood over an armoured plain costume with the bat symbol on the front because nights in Gotham got cold and he really didn't know how Dick was planning on surviving without a cape, even if it 'cramped his style'. He was going to call himself Red Robin ... because of the red. His design was cool no matter what Dickface said.

Now dressed in Jason-approved apparel, Jason hacked into the main cave computer, Tim looking over his shoulder, and accessed the Zeta tube technology in order to silence their arrival into Mount Justice.

"We're in." Jason whispered to his huddled group of siblings. Tim and Cass just looked at him in amusement but Damian seemed delighted, so he shrugged off his disbelievers and bathed in some appreciation, even if it came from a six year old.

"Alright team, gather around. Tim, you've been studying the cave's computer systems right?" Jason asked and Tim only nodded in reply. "Alright. I'll need you to find an access point where you'll be able to hack into this cave. It shouldn't be any harder than getting past the cave's firewalls so if you've really been studying you should be fine." Tim gave him a salute before sliding a gauntlet out of his pocket. It was of a similar design that Dick liked to use and obviously stolen judging from how big it was around Tim's arm. Tim pulled up Mount Justice's blueprints and off he went.

"Umm, ok. Cass, I need you to keep us appraised of where Dick's goody goody friends are at any time. If you think one of them could blow our cover, I need you to warn us. Will you accept this mission?"

Cass too saluted but added an "Aye aye captain," then she too was off.

Jason just shot one last bemused look at where Tim and Cass used to be before crouching down and facing Damian, he placed his hands on Damian's shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Ok kid, you have a very important job today. I need you to distract Dick. You think you can do that?"

"Dick? Young master Dick." Damian said mimicking Alfred.

"Hmm, not quite. Why don't you just tell him you had a nightmare huh? How about that."

Damian's face grew confused as he replied. "I go to daddy when I get nightmares."

"Right, right well. Just, just distract him ok?"

Damian just shrugged before his face lit up and a grin took over as he gave a sloppy salute and toddled off in the direction of the debriefing room.

Jason gave himself a brisk nod and looked up at the grate of the vent. Using some impressive manipulation of physics, he braced himself against the wall as he removed the covering and pushed it further in. He fell into a controlled tumble to the ground where he then leapt up, hooking his hands against the side of opening and heaved himself up.

"Hah, I'll show Dick. I can totally sneak through vents." He whispered to himself.

At this point, fate had been decided. Jason had made a fundamental mistake in his hot-headed plan in that he seemed to forget that his siblings could not read each other's minds. So while Cassandra had already found where Dick and his team were, Damian was left wondering around Mount Justice having found the briefing room to be empty. Tim had just realised that although he knew what he needed to do, he did not know when to do it and Jason remained single minded in his slow but quiet crawl to the vents above the debriefing room.

The first person to realise that things were going wrong was Tim. He had reached a room connected to the central system and had hacked his was past the firewalls, glad that Dick had not been rooting through them beforehand. He would have added extra protection on his way out. When he was done, he waited for a while wondering whether or not it was time, or worrying that he had missed his cue. While he was on one of the beds swinging his legs, he realised that Jason had not given him a cue. So with a shrug, he turned to one of the screens and put up one of his favourite shows wondering when he could emerge and return.

Closer to the main entertainment room, Damian was toddling along determined to fulfil his part in this scheme. Even if Dick was his eldest brother and therefore 'the best', Jason was infinitely cooler and was someone to impress.

However, Cass was hiding in an alcove by the side of the corridor and had just seen Damian walking by. She wasn't exactly sure _what_ Damian's cover was, having run off before finding out the youngest's role in all of this, but eventually decided that the pure fact that Dick would see Damian would 'blow their covers'. So she darted out and grabbed Damian before wriggling into another hiding spot.

She looked down only to see that Damian's face had gotten red, ready to scream his head off because that was what the kindergarten teacher had said to do if he got grabbed. Cass' eyes widened in horror as she had to think fast before Damian unleashed his piercing screams.

"No, no Damian, shhh it's me!" She whispered as quietly as she could hoping that no one with super hearing would catch wind of her voice.

What would have been a scream turned into a confused squeak as Damian heard her voice and quietened down. But then he started tearing up and sniffling and once again, Cassandra found herself in a tight spot.

Meanwhile, Jason had finally reached the grate above the debriefing room to find it empty of anyone and he grew annoyed that no one had informed him as he slithered on to the entertainment room where they last got caught sneaking in. A sly thought crept into his head, what if he managed to surprise them in the same spot they were last caught. That would show Dick. And, with a tiny maniacal laugh, he slid on through the vent, forgetting about any and all kinks in his plan.

Within the entertainment room, the Team was discussing future teamwork exercises to go through the next time they gathered. Once again, it was Conner who noticed something strange, and again, it had a hint of a tune to it. He thought he could hear it coming from his room, so giving his excuses, he extricated himself from the discussion and headed over.

Cass was lucky, with Conner distracted, there was no one else to hear Damian sobbing as she tried to get him to tell her why so that he would stop.

"I-I, J-Jason said to g-go, b-but if y-yo-ou don't" He said in between hiccups before trailing off.

"Ok, Damian, I need you to take a deep breath and try to calm down ok?"

Damian nodded and took a comically deep breath and slowly blew it out till he had gotten his sobs under control.

"Can you tell me why you were crying?"

"Jason told me to distract Dick. But you stopped me so that means he changed his mind and didn't want me to do the important bit."

"Oh." Cass breathed. "Whoops. I did not mean to do that Damian. I didn't know that was what he wanted you to do."

"So Jason didn't think I was not important?"

"Nope, I'm sure Jason thinks you are the most important kid in the world." Cass comforted Damian with a warm hug.

On the other side of the entertainment room, Conner had followed the sound of a young voice singing along to a tune to the closed door of his room.

"Me and you and Zaboomafoo, come along and see what's new, we can do what animals do." Was what he heard through his door.

He opened the door to see a young boy who couldn't be older than 10 sitting on his bed swinging his feet along to the theme song of what looked to be an old 90s tv show … about a leaping lemur?

At hearing the door sliding open, the boy whipped his head around to reveal a masked face, the slack mouth and sudden stillness was the only thing that showed that he was surprised. The boy let out a small 'uh oh' and scrambled for something next to him on the mattress. Next thing Conner knew, the lights went out and sounds echoed in different parts of Mount Justice.

Cass looked up as the lights along the corridor started malfunctioning. She figured that that was Tim and decided it was time to get scarce as Jason executed his part of the plan … whatever it was, Jason never did sit them down to discuss the procedure. She picked Damian up and scrabbled up the walls and into the vents.

Jason had finally found where Dick and the Team were situated, he noted that Superboy was missing, but he didn't think it mattered much. He was waiting for Damian to show up, but he never did when suddenly the lights started flickering and ghoulish wails filled the room.

His heart rate picked up and he knew it was time for him to make an appearance, so he dropped down screaming only to find himself face to face with an unamused Dick Grayson.

"Really Jason? Really?"

"You ruined my game." He hissed back with narrowed eyes.

Dick smacked his palm over his face and Jason could barely hear what he said, his hand muffling his words, but it sounded like Dick said "To think this is the idiot I was thinking of giving Robin to. I cannot believe."

Jason felt his jaw loosening, but in his shock, he was unable to muster the energy to correct it.

"What exactly is going on?" Zatanna asked Rocket who shrugged. The two exchanged looks before deciding that it was probably in their best interests to just continue observing in silence. Robin was a hassle at the nest of times and they had a feeling that now wasn't exactly what one would call the 'best of times'.

"You're giving me Robin?" Incredulousness coloured his voice.

"Well, I dunno, I mean, what with this happening. I guess I can at least count on you coming up with ridiculously elaborate plans."

"Holy shit."

"Mind your language, I'm sure Agent A has ear everywhere and can in fact detect bad language no matter where in the world or beyond you are." Dick said wryly.

"Umm, guys?" Conner walked into the room, Tim under his arms looking up at his brothers sheepishly. "I found him in my room watching what looked like a kids show? And, um, anyone know who he is?"

"Really Jason?"

"What, I can't be everywhere at once."

Dick just sighed.

"Alright everyone! Attention!" Dick shouted as loudly as he could.

As a reflex, Jason leapt into attention as Tim attempted to wriggle out of Conner's hold as the rest of the Team looked on in silenced bemusement. The real surprise came when a small girl with a child in her arms jumped out of the same vent Jason came from. The two then made their way next to Jason and the girl executed a crisp salute and the smaller child gave a sloppier version.

"Excuse me Mr. Superboy sir, please let me go." A tiny voice piped up from under Conner's arm. He jumped a little having forgotten that there was a child folded over his forearm. He grunted and put Tim down carefully, still a little disoriented by the events of the day.

Tim scrambled over the join his siblings in their military-style line up.

"Alright troops. You know the drill, left right left right!" Dick barked in an imitation of a military commander that young children liked to use. He led them to the Zeta tube and was about to enter the Gotham coordinates when he heard Tim gasp. Twirling around, he fixed Tim with a questioning look.

"I forgot my stuff!"

Dick slumped down with weariness and started trudging back. It wasn't until they almost walked into Artemis that he realised that the Team had followed them.

"Oh hey guys. So sorry about that. I just gotta let the kids get some stuff and then they'll be out of your hair permanently. Hopefully." He grinned over at them.

"Not me," Jason cackled, "I'll be visiting you in your nightmares soon enough."

"Ignore him." Dick gave a tight smile.

"Uh, sure." Artemis started, "but I have to ask, who exactly are these kids? They look like that same ones that sneaked into our base our first year as a team. I'm just asking for … security purposes. Yeah, security purposes." She made an attempt at an innocent grin.

Dick just laughed nervously as he slid around her only to have to stop as he heard a pained yelp from M'gann. It seemed that as Artemis was distracting him, M'gann had tried to give Damian a hug, who had then decided that the best course of action would be to bite the green-skinned girl and bit down hard.

Conner growled and made a move towards M'gann, but Wally held him back. Rapidly whispering to him about things like morals and age appropriateness and how heroes don't murder little kids for biting people. It left Conner breathing angrily, but no longer looking like he would make aggressive moves towards Dick's youngest brother.

"You know what, this is too much drama. Jason, since this was your idea, please pick up whatever equipment was left behind. The rest of us will stay here. I'm going to contact dad, I'm surprised he hasn't gone looking for you guys yet. It's almost dinner." Dick said before shooing Jason off and ignoring the antics of his friends.

It took less than five minutes for Jason to return, missing tech in tow. Dick bade his teammates farewell and herded his siblings through the zeta beam. They clambered up the steps to the manor where they almost bumped into Bruce, who just silently raised an eyebrow before deciding that he was better off not knowing.

Damian ran forward and into his arms babbling about flickering lights and his importance. Bruce was just glad he had a good time.

"Come on," he grumbled, "dinner is almost ready. You can tell me about the rest of your day after I've filled myself with food."

But instead of keeping quiet like he hoped they would, his children just swarmed forward chattering at him as he just went with the flow. Their mouths never stopped making word noises till they filled it with food.

And once again, balance was regained in the house of Wayne.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I wrote something really heartbreaking in this, I even teared up writing it. So, as an apology, I decided to add a bonus chapter that does nothing to lighten the mood! Yay! I'm so sorry, please don't lynch me.**

"He needs to come with me Beloved."

"No Talia, I am not leaving him to the tender mercies of your father!"

"He shall grow strong. My father will train him well."

"He'll be trained just as well if he stays here. So, once again, no Talia, he will not be going with you and that is final."

"He is almost too old. He has grown too soft, he must come with me before it is too late! You will ruin him!"

"You will not take him and that is final."

"You cannot take my son away from me!"

The loud voices travelled up to the next level of the manor where a young dark haired child stood hidden, pressed against the railings looking down on his arguing parents. Another boy walked up to him and sat down next to him. Two pairs of blue eyes looked down at the two adults fighting.

"Why do they have to fight every time?" Damian asked, his voice carefully void of emotions.

"Well, I guess it's because they both want what's best for you and to them, that means that you stay with one of them." Tim replied feeling sorry for his brother.

"I don't like them fighting." Damian whispered.

"I guess you just have to look on the bright side of things." Tim quietly said.

"What would that be?"

"At least you know they want you."

Damian looked at his brother with curiosity etched on his face. Below, the voices of his parents faded as they moved to Bruce's office.

"You know how I had parents before Bruce and the only reason I'm living with him now is that they weren't treating me right?"

Damian nodded

"Well, they don't think I remember, but I do, and it was really lonely. My parents were never at home and when they were they mostly ignored me. But then they died and the police found me home alone. And then I went to dad."

"Oh." Damien's voice sounded small and sad.

"But it's alright. I have all of you now and you have all of us. And we're a family together right?"

"Yeah." Damian breathed happily.

"Wanna sneak out? I know Jason is hanging out with his hero friends at Mount Justice. We'll get Cass and then head on over to crash his party how does that sound?" Tim asked a mischievous smile on his face.

Damian nodded and off they went.

"Oh Cass" Tim sang as the two of them popped their heads past her door.

Cassandra looked up from her position curled up on her bed reading. She had just recovered from a bout of the flu and was itching for something to do other than lie in bed and read.

One look at her brother and she knew he was up to something. Considering how restless she was feeling, now was the perfect time for him to approach her. She grinned at him in anticipation of what he had planned and leapt off her bed to meet them.

She ruffled Damien's hair in greeting and after Tim explained the situation was all for bringing Damian out of the manor. A brief 'tactics meeting' and they were ready.

As soon as they masked themselves, they were ready to infiltrate mount justice. This being the third time doing this, Tim wondered if they might be expected, but there was no way to predict _when_ they'd do it or even if they _would_ considering that the last two times were instigated by Jason.

This time, none of them bothered with costumes. After all, Tim was a pragmatist if nothing else and he didn't see why their everyday clothes weren't good enough for sneaking around Mount Justice if they were adequate for sneaking around the manor, which was definitely a more dangerous pastime.

After the last time he slipped through Mount Justice's defences, he had made sure to install a backdoor that only he or another member of his family could access. Or at least, a member of his family that was in full possession of their faculties.

It only took him a few minutes to get into the system and guarantee them silent entry into the Team's headquarters. It was much faster than Dick or Jason would have done it, but _they_ didn't have a backdoor and Tim had long ago learned the virtues of a little cheating in life.

It was a lucky thing that Tim and Cass were, together, a more rational leader than Jason had been. Due to this, they decided that it would be more advantageous if they were to keep together than if they were to split up like one of those groups in horror movies. They marched single file into Mount Justice pumping their fists in the air chanting "Bothering Jason. Bothering Jason. Bothering Jason." (omg these little shits)

They quietened down once they got into the cave proper and continued on till they could hear the boisterous sound of voices chattering away before the movie started. They thought that Jason's voice might have been the loudest, but that could have just been due to familiarity.

The three of them peaked around the entrance to the entertainment room to see one of the heroes crouched in front of a CD player. They ducked back out of sight and snuck away to plan properly. With this new information, they knew that anything they could do would have to be done to the channel itself and not the movie they were watching.

Nodding to each other, they snuck off one by one past the entrance into the entertainment room. Right before Cass' turn, Jason had looked towards the opening a suspicious glare on his face and the three of them held their breaths. This would not be fun at all if Jason caught them sneaking around. Luckily for them, a combination of Cassandra's dark clothing and someone distracting Jason by calling his name allowed them to continue with their little venture. From there onwards, it was smooth sailing till they actually got to the control room.

They ran into a wide room that they _knew_, having caught a glimpse of Mount Justice's blueprints during the renovation, was the control room. However, it was empty of any furniture or anything that might even remotely look like a computer. Even the Batcave still had a _keyboard_. The kids looked around confused and after a brief visual sweep of the room decided to split up to search for _something_ that could tell them how to access the control system.

Tim had begun tapping the walls in order to see if there was a hidden panel, Cass was crouched down and poking at seams and Damian stood in the middle of the room prodding at the floor with his toes. They were all getting antsy and Damian was sporting a fierce scowl on his face when a blue light lit up the room revealing holographic screens in the middle of the room. In fact, Damian was standing right before them.

A familiar cowled face appeared on it smiling down at them in amusement.

"Hi kids!" Barbra chirped in greeting.

"Babs!" They cheered in reply.

Tim and Cass ran up to Damian and flanked him as they beamed up at the disembodied redhead.

"What are you rascals up to now."

"Well, we just wanted to have a little fun. Talia's at home and she and Bruce are duking it out." Tim explained.

"Same old story then I guess."

Tin and Cass nodded while Damian looked down at his shoes, a forlorn expression on his face. Barbara noticed it and a little sympathy made it's way through her features. She sighed before looking at Tim and Cass and nodding at them.

"Alright, what can I do for you?"

They beamed up at her as Tim took the lead again.

"All we really need you to do is teach us how to access the systems and how to work these holograph screen thingies. That way you get off scot free and we still get what we want."

"The way you worded that made it sound like the three of you are up to something." She said peering down at them suspiciously as they did their best to project innocence at her. She eventually let up and smiled at them. "Well, I trust you guys and I know that whatever it is you have planned won't be too destructive right?"

They nodded up at her beaming smiles on their faces. She snorted at them before instructing Tim on the ways to use Mount Justice's systems. Once he had all the information stored away, he set himself to working out how to fit the knowledge he had gained and applying to what he saw before him. Barbara did what she popped in to do and bade them good luck before leaving.

"Ok, now all I have to do is divert control of the tv and we are in session. Let's do this." Tim grinned at his siblings 20 minutes later. Cassandra mimed collapsing on the floor and Damian just grumbled at him, the boy looking bored out of his mind. Tim rolled his eyes at them. "You know it's not that easy right? This isn't the movies."

His siblings moved to cover his mouth before he entered another rant about the discrepancies of movie hacking. He shoved their hands away and glared at them.

"Rude." He muttered to himself. "Anyway, we're in, let's get some comfortable stuff and we can start."

They raided the rooms for comforters, pillows and cushions as they built a nest of comfort before the screens of the briefing room. Once settled in, Tim types in some executive functions and they settled in to watch the latest movie as several rooms down, the tv started erratically changing from channel to channel.

Jason, on the other hand, had been enjoying the movie that they had chosen by vote. It was an action with enough explosions to sate him and had enough of a fast pace that it didn't bore him entirely between the big booms. The plot itself was interesting too, a new take on a gritty political debate on power and corruption. He thought he might even bring it up the next time Dick came over from Bludhaven and forced them into a family movie night.

But then everything went wrong. Just as the movie turned into the third act with a particularly compelling and heart-wrenching sequence, the screen flickered and the news flitted onto the screen.

"I knew it!" Jason screamed, having thought that he heard someone sneaking about earlier. "I'm gonna find those brats and they'll pay for this transgression!" He howled theatrically.

As the screen tuned into what looked like a cartoon, he leapt over the back of the couch and stormed off in search of someone anyone who shouldn't have been in the tower at this time.

Meanwhile, Cass had brought out snacks that she had hidden under her baggy shirt and all three of the youngest Wayne children were happily snacking away as they watched animated animals interacting with each other on the screen. Damian, in particular, seemed to be especially involved in the plot as well as the character designs. Cass and Tim exchanged looks but eventually decided that it would be best if Bruce took care of it.

They were barely even 10 minutes into the movie when Jason came wheeling into the room, shoulders heaving. All three of them turned to him and the only thing that could be heard were the sounds from the movie and Jason's heavy breathing.

"You interrupted my movie." He growled.

Tim, Cass, and Damian exchanged looks before leaping up and ran past Jason screaming and laughing as he tried to catch them one by one. Damian, being the smallest was the easiest to catch and was promptly tucked under Jason's arm laughing all the while as he ran after Tim and Cass.

Tim was the next one to be caught and held by his shirt's collar by Jason's right hand. He attempted to squirm out of Jason's hold giggling to himself until Cass was caught. Like Damian, she too was tucked under his arm and both she and Tim gave each other high fives. Jason dragged his load to the entertainment room where the rest of the Team was trying to figure out what went wrong.

Jason deposited them before the tv and growled, "You better fix whatever it is you did."

Both Tim and Cass looked to Damian and when they saw that he was smiling and clearly having a good time, they nodded to each other and Tim set to undoing what he did. It didn't take too long, and when he was done, Jason allowed them to return to their nest to continue watching their movie.

Jason and his team came to join them once their movie had finished, but the incessant questions about plot and the premise of the film distracted them from the ending. Damian pouted until Tim rewound the movie for him.

By then end, Damian was yawning and Tim and Cass were ready to head back home. Jason allowed Damian to hop on his back and Tim and Cass hung off his arms as they headed towards the Zeta tube home.

The emerged on the other side in an overall pleasant mood until they saw what faced them on the other side. Talia and Bruce were standing, facing each other, arms crossed, the air around them practically crackling with tension. They both turned their heads towards the group and as one moved forward.

Talia reached for Damian and held him in her arms in a tight hug whispering in his ear. Bruce sent her a tight look but allowed her the moment as he checked over his other children.

"Why didn't you warn me about her!" Jason hissed towards his younger siblings.

"Why do you think we were at Mount justice instead of watching a movie at home." Tim whispered back.

"I dunno, I thought you just wanted to annoy me."

"We did. But we also wanted to get Damian away. Two birds, one stone." Cass replied.

Bruce gave each of his children a tight hug before facing the mother and son huddled together to his left. His body language showed apprehension at the fact that Talia seemed to be taking a long time to check Damian's health. They were all on edge, but when Damian pushed his mother away with a shouted no, his father was the first one there wrenching Damian away from her. The children surrounded Damian, creating a determined and, more importantly, protective wall between the two.

"What did you say to him, Talia."

"I merely offered to bring him with me when I left."

"Is this true Damian?"

"Mother said she'd teach me to kill. Father I don't want to kill." Damian whimpered with tears in his eyes as he clutched on to Jason. "Batman fights killers."

Bruce softened at hearing that and crouched down to give his son a hug.

"I won't let her take you, Damian, I promise." Bruce whispered into his son's ear as he felt him nod against his chest.

"You heard him. He doesn't want to go with you." Jason sneered as Tim and Cass glared at Talia.

Talia frowned as her features became cold like ice. She looked to where her son was still looking at her cheeks wet. "I see that it is too late then. You have infected him with your weakness. No matter, Ra's Al Ghul is immortal and needs no heir." She turned away from the family huddle and walked away.

"Mother wait! I love you please don't go!" Damian's shouts echoed after her retreating back. "Don't go." He sniffled.

Tim and Cass whirled around and hugged Damian who was still ensconced in Bruce's arms. Jason joined in to make it a group hug and all of them squeezed harder as they heard Damian's sobs echoing in the cave.

"You have us, we love you." Tim fervently whispered. "We will always love you."

Bonus Scene:

Bruce walked into his office Talia storming after him. He knew Damian was up and most likely listening to their arguing and he didn't want him to have to be privy to the whole thing. The situation was hard enough on Damian as it was.

"Listen, Talia, I am _not_ trying to take your son away from you. You're free to come and visit for as long and as often as you want, you just can't take him and subject him to your father's so-called training. That's no life for a child."

"_I_ had that life." She sniped.

Bruce knew he would only be slipping into more trouble if he kept on with that line of reasoning and if the lasers practically shooting out of her eyes weren't enough, her tone definitely was.

"Look, I know you love him-"

"Love is a weakness." She interrupted him, but he continued on nevertheless.

"And you worry about him. And I know that if you could you would never let him out of your sight. But the fact is that Damian has grown used to this life."

"Then he will get used to my life as well."

"He has friends here."

"Weaknesses."

Seeing that nothing he was saying was swaying her, Bruce decided that he had no choice but to be firm.

"He is not leaving Gotham to live with you Talia, and even if you did take him, I have a plethora of superheroes that I can call upon and you can be assured that eventually, I _will_ find him and I will rain fire and brimstone upon you and your father if you drive me to this."

He sees Talia flinch, but the anger in her eyes tell him that her projected fear is false. She turns away, hurt radiating from her posture. He was about to lead her out of the manor when he hears the distinctive sound of metal and he turns around to see Talia with a dagger is her hand. The only thing he has time for as she lunges towards him is to raise his hand.

Bruce felt a sharp pain radiating from his hand where the blade had sunk into his flesh. With his other hand, he reaches for a book which he smashes into her arm and throws her away from himself. He knows that taking the dagger out will only cause him to bleed more, but with it in his hand, he is impeded.

He pulls the blade out of his hand and throws it at Talia where it lands in her arm pinning her to his desk. She let out an aggravated scream as she pulled it from her body.

"If you will not give him to me, then I will take him from you!"

Bruce swiped one of the knives he had hidden just for this possibility. Not that he would be fighting with the mother of his child, but that he would be fighting at all without a weapon on him.

He had just successfully blocked her blow when someone knocked on the door. Both of them stopped moving and faced the door to see it opening revealing Alfred on the other side.

"Master Bruce, the children are missing."

Bruce felt his stomach drop. Talia turned towards him a fierce snarl on her face.

"You lost him?" She hisses. "How can he be safe here if it is so easy for you to lose him. No, he will come with me at the end of today."

"One, Damian's safety is of utmost importance, two, he only comes with you if he chooses to. Remember, I will find him and I will come for him if you take him. Now come on," he said pushing her away from him and unlocking their weapons, "I have a feeling I know where he went."

Bruce walked out leading Alfred and Talia to the cave and there they waited for the wayward children to come home. If they were extremely unlucky, it would be with an irate Jason in tow.


End file.
